It seems that the next Nintendo console, tentatively being referred to as Nintendo Switch 2, isn't expected to launch until the next financial year according to the latest reports.
This comes from Chris Dring, head of GamesIndustry.biz. On the website's latest Microcast episode, Dring spoke on the expected launch window for Nintendo Switch 2, and that it's unlikely to arrive during the current financial year which concludes March 31, 2025.
As spotted by VGC, Dring said the following: "No developer I’ve spoken to expects it to be launching this financial year. In fact, they’ve been told not to expect it in the [current] financial year. A bunch of people I spoke to hope it’s out in April or May time, still early next year, not late.
"I don’t think any of us wants a late launch for Switch 2 because we all want a new Nintendo console, everyone gets very excited for it, and we don’t want that crunch of Grand Theft Auto 6 and Switch and all that kind of stuff on top of each other."
Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa had previously confirmed via X / Twitter that the company's next console will be officially announced before the end of this financial year. Furthermore, he has stated that 'Switch next model' is an appropriate way to refer to the upcoming console, strongly hinting that unlike the Wii and Wii U, Nintendo isn't looking to significantly shake up its design philosophy here.
A Spring 2025 launch for Nintendo Switch 2 wouldn't be too farfetched, either. The original Switch model launched in early March of 2017, on the cusp of the end of that financial year, which could've been a way to bolster that year's earnings after the Wii U's disappointing sales performance.
With the Switch family closing in on 150 million units shipped, the company is in a much stronger position to launch a console at the beginning of a new financial year, and you'd think a souped-up Switch would be a much easier sell than something as unorthodox as the Wii U was.
